Last weekend I attended a Medieval Festival held by a local museum. It is apparently the largest of it's kind in the Southern Hemisphere...which probably makes it about the 20th in the world but hey, I was impressed. They sure do take it seriously, though. Lots of costumes, displays, mock fights, jousting, etc. Funny thing was, they checked your bags on entry for weapons amongst over things...but hang on a minute, isn't that guy over there walking around with a four-foot long sword...hmmm.

Anyhoo, it was a good bit of fun. I had both the GH1 and E-P1 with me - GH1 fitted with the 14-140, and the E-P1 with a selection of Canon FDs. I've settled on this as my preferred combination using the Panny for AF and the Oly for MF.

Yeah I didn't put much thought into the order of the images. I just copied and pasted the links, although I seemed to have have fluked it with the Oly images. It was a bit weird...one guy (in full costume, can't remember exactly what his character was) spotted the E-P1 and thought it was pretty cool. He didn't like the lack of view finder though - he was a die-hard film shooter. Didn't pay any attention to the Panny at all

As to which brand is better for manual focus...I don't know if the E-P1 is better than the GH1. It's just how I've always used it, and with the GH1 snapping away like a DSLR with the 14-140mm, they make a good combination.

There is lots of conversation about the differences of the two styles Oly & Panny. Many of us have owned or do own both. One thing is certain, the Oly is a more attractive piece of gear. It draws lots of attention, and deservedly so.

Only while in NYC did several people (all Asian by the way) walk up and comment on my GF1, oh nice camera etc.

I haven't had anyone else comment on the E-P1 but it definitely gets a few curious looks from time to time. I think Oly got the retro looks of the E-P1 spot on, and (ignoring any other comparison between the two) did it better than Fuji with the X100.

E-P1: Modern looking camera with retro design cues.

X100: Retro looking camera with modern LCD and buttons attached. Nice but confused.

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